AT&T, DirecTV Merger Deal Nearly Approved By FCC

The U.S. telecom and antitrust regulators have given a green light to the biggest pay-TV company merger.

The merger between AT&T Inc. and DirecTV is about to be nearly approved by the U.S. telecom and antitrust regulators. The merger worth a whopping $48.5 billion will be the biggest merger ever between a mobile company and a pay TV company in the US.

On Tuesday Tom Wheeler the Federal Communications Commission Chairman, suggested it was time to put the approval for the merger to vote. The vote will be cast by a five member commission created to assess if the merger would pose any substantial risks to other competing companies.

According to the Justice Department the deal poses to significant danger to the US economy and the terms comply with the antitrust laws.

AT&T and the FCC have been going over the terms of the merger for the last few weeks which will combine the mobile company with the largest satellite TV provider DirecTV. The deal between AT&T and DirecTV was announced last May in 2014 and will give DirecTV a broadband product and AT&T with satellite assets for growth and ventures.

The approval by FCC will be provided after AT&T commits to requirements such as building internet connections with high speed for more than 12.5 million locations and to share a of its traffic exchange and other contents accumulated from web transit companies.

FCC will employ an independent officer to make sure AT&T is adhering to the conditions after the initial merger. The conditions were formulated to ensure the merger served the pubic rightfully and according to Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer it will benefit the millions of subscribers significantly.

According to Reuters, rival companies such as Netflix and Dish Network had pushed for limitations on the merger as not to provide AT&T with immense power over the video service market.

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